Not as it Appears
by TygerFang
Summary: We're plunged straight into the crime as a brutally murdered woman is found dangling in an alley. But as the story continues the story twists and turns leading up to a torturous situation for Detective Benson. It gets better as it goes on Ch.1 is an intro
1. The Crime's Revealed

**Disclaimer: **I'm saying it now. I do not own law and order; in fact I don't own anything, absolutely nothing! Except the idea, that's mine, so don't take it.

**Warning: **I have a strange and violent mind, so be warned. I may not be perverted but I am strange.

**TF: **My first fic, enjoy. And please review at the end, I've always loved reviews for my work. I update quite often and sorry this chapter is rather short. I personally hope that some people read this because I've noticed ¾ of the fics on this site is romance… and well yeah, I don't got none in this story P.

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"Oh" (_sob)_ "oh" (_sob)_ "DANNY!!! HELP!, CALL 911!" The lady shrieked to her husband as she crumbled to the floor despite wearing an expensive dress. 

In front of her there was a truly sickening sight. Tied to the fire escape connected to the apartment next to the alley was a rope, the other end was tied to a helpless dangling body. It was a woman, dripping with blood from the cut from the rope and many slashes and cuts throughout the body. The area around her was even forming a puddle….

around 20 min. later

"Well they sure did a number on her, look at that." The cop said trying to look at her as little as possible.

"I…I'm going to be sick." A cop said running in the opposite direction. Another one looked while sighing "What a rookie – wait, this, this is out of our department" He said while looking in between the body's legs. "Call SVU."

**Olivia's POV**

A phone suddenly rings loudly in the middle of the night.

"ah, wait what?" Benson said while being still half asleep. She finally picked up the phone and answered.

"Hey Liv sorry to wake you but we have a situation down here." Eliot said sounding pretty tired himself.

"alright don't worry I'm coming right over there where is it?" She said, trying to rub her face to wake up further.

"This guy was really looking to get attention for himself, it's right near the theater hall over on '_he gives the address'_."

_Ugh well time to get up_ she thought while peeling herself away from her warm covers. _Too bad too, I was having a really good dream. _While managing to get dressed and collect her badge and her jacket and got her mind away from her dreams and into her job.

Cops were walking here and there and Warner was going to examine the body. The police were just taking a few last photos and then untied the rope and set the body down. As I was walking over and getting closer they started to put the rope into the bag and set off to look for more evidence.

"Olivia, good you're here," Warner started off as she finally reached the body. "From the looks of it she didn't die from the rope tied around her neck, instead it was this stab here" She pointed at a darkly colored bloody hole on the victim's chest. "That killed her."

"So what was the rope for, appearance?" I asked realizing that whoever did this obviously enjoyed torturing this woman. The cuts across her body, they were everywhere. And a lot of them seemed really shallow while others looked as if he jabbed a small pointed object into her.

"That's my guess" Warner said. There is also extensive damage to her—

"This guy, This guy tortured her. But that's not why we were called was it?" Eliot said, you could just hear the venom in his voice.

"We found trace fluids and gashes around her pelvic area. It looks like I'll be having plenty of DNA to test. The guy may be able to commit brutal crimes, but he's not good at covering his tracks."

"Yet" Eliot said grimly. "There is no one this guy is going to stop here, he's going to try this again.

I just looked grimly at the active crime scene. He's right, this had serial killer/rapist all over it. We need to really put a rush on this one…

…

"Good morning everyone" Cragen stated loudly for everyone as he walked to the center of the main office. "As you all can tell this case is going to be a high priority, and the press is already swooping in like vulture so we need to get this solved before the city goes to panic."

"Man this dude's just sick, do we have any idea who he is?" Fin asked in one of his average 'we need to catch this jerk' tone of voice.

"We found an ID on the body, her name is Rachel Ray. Benson, Stabler go to her work and ask around about her. Fin, Munch you go search the home for any leads." Cragen decided. He then began to go back into his office.

_This is a bad start to a day and it doesn't seem to be getting brighter _Walking out of the station I look at where she worked and sighed inwardly _A middle school teacher, why her?_

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**TF:** Well then here's to the start of my writing adventure. I'd love for reviews whether bad or good (I know I suck right now so I'd like to know what to fix). And I'll be updating soon. 


	2. The plot begins

**Disclaimer:** Once again, I don't own Law and Order:SVU…. Until I finally rule the world.

**TF:** Ok, this chapter is going to be longer, because, well the last one was pathetically short and only gave you a starter on what is to come. It will get better, please review.

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**Olivia's POV**

The hallways are empty, yet not silent. It's only 9am so all the teenagers are in the classrooms which all seem to be active and noisy except for the rare one full of silent kids passing notes, making faces, and some actually listening. _We get to be the bearer of bad news _As I rounded the corner and stepped into the principal's office.

"We were expecting you, go right in Principal Thompson's already waiting for you." The secretary stated in a monotone voice as she got back to her work as if annoyed by this interruption _I still don't get how some people could act this way towards another person, especially if they worked at the same place…_

"Thank you for coming, we're truly grieving for our loss." Principal Thompson said. He even seemed to actually mean it. He was wearing a look of such loss that was a bit more than what someone would expect a principal to have for a teacher.

_"_Thanks, now who talked to her the most or was a friend?" Eliot asked getting down to business.

"She's a rather shy person except in the classroom. The only person I can think of is Mrs. Johnson." He paused to chuckle a bit. "Those two really hit it off, she ought to know something." He said getting more cheerily _This guy is either a really emotional person or just giving a good show_

"Alright, now then could you tell us what kind of worker was she?" Eliot asked getting right down to business.

"She was one of our best teachers. She never in her 3 years of working here took a sick day and loved every one of her students." He said, the longer we spoke to him the sadder he seemed to get. _He's acting strangely, why does he act like an emotional rollar coaster? _At this point Eliot and I were both eyeing him suspitiously.

"Principal, what is your relationship with Ms. Ray?" I asked looking at his reaction more than listening to his response. _If he doesn't seem to than maybe someone else did, he looks like he's active in seeing what goes on in this school._

His face changed as he realized what I meant by this and quickly responded. "She's a great teacher, and a great person. But I don't really feel anything beyond what a proud principal should towards a good teacher." He said, looking a bit more neutral than before.

"Than do you think that there's anyone here that does have romantic feelings towards her?" Eliot asked seeing where I was going with this.

"Well, no one really comes to mind…" He seemed to be thinking deeply as he said this. "Although… There was this one guy that took interest. He doesn't work here. He's one of the parents of her students."

"Took interest? What do you mean like that?" Eliot said, managing to find a way to become more interested than he was before.

"Oh, it was at a fund raiser that Ms. Ray's class was having. She teaches History class, and the books we had might as well been a part of history itself" He chuckled at the memory and at his own joke. "She was rather shy usually but in a crowd, especially her class, she really seemed to come out of her shell."

"I see, but what is it exactly that the parent did?" I asked to try and get him to the point. _Could this man really be responsible? He doesn't seem to be the type…_

"Ha ha, sorry 'bout that I sort of got side tracked didn't I? I was there to give my own support and donate a bit of money myself and I couldn't help but notice him starring at her." Thompson told, getting more serious as he continued. "I don't know what it was about him, or the way he stared, but something really didn't feel right."

"Did he stay there long? And did he talk to her much?" Eliot asked still leaning inwards, _It seems that Eliot thinks this man might have something to do with it, or at least suspects him of it._

"Well no, He was standing in the corner the entire time; just starring. After about half an hour he left." The principal now wore a look of concern. "Do you think he had something to do with this? I don't know his name, or what kid is his."

"Well we don't know yet. If you think of anything else here's my card. Thank you." I said and handed him the card with my cell number on it. "Thank you" was all he could say as he sat back at his desk.

Once we were out of his office We both were giving each other a look that we both understood. From here on out lets keep an eye on this guy.

"Well onto Mrs. Johnson." He said walking towards the room the principal told us was hers.

"Sure, lets go." I agreed and took a few quick steps to catch up to him.

This hallway seemed strange. Different from the first. We were farther from the classrooms so our footsteps echoed throught the darkness. They seemed to have a more pressing atmosphere as the silence bore down on you. We seemed to take longer to reach the end towards the closed classroom door with the name plate that read 'Mrs. Johnson'.

I finally reached the end and grabed the handle of the thick door. I turned the handle and opened the door to be greeted by a wave of noice from students lazily at work with some sort of poster projects.

"Hello how may I help you?" A voice sweetly called out from across the noice.

"This is Detective Stabler and my partner Dectective Benson. We're investigating the murder of Ms. Ray and would like to ask you a few questions." He said this with a firm tone, but quietly enough so that the students wouldn't hear him.

"Not a problem, step out into the hall." She said, still as cheery as ever _with a smile plastered on her face_. "Now students I'll be outside for a bit so don't be too crazy, got it?" she said while following us out.

When she shut the door the sound was instantly cut off letting silence in the cooled halls become pressing once again. "I was so shocked when I heard what happened... I want to help how I can." She gloomily said, her smile faded and she had a serious look on her face.

"Did you know anyone who wanted to hurt her, maybe had a grudge against her?" I asked in a soft tone, trying to be nice to this woman _The two must have been close_

"She didn't bother anyone. It was a talent really, and also because she's so gosh darn quiet. She's really quite nice when you get to know her and when she actually talks to you." Johnson said. "I can't think of anyone who would think of hurting her."

"Did she ever have serious problems in the past?" Eliot said, trying again to find a good suspect. _so far we don't have much to go on, I hope Munch and Fin find something._

"She always tried to stay out of trouble. There was only one incident, some guy was bothering her. He even sent her letters saying all of her personal information. My husband took care of it though." She stated as if that made it so everything was fine.

"Why would your husband handle it--" I was cut off.

"Oh don't think that. He's a police officer."

**End Olivia's POV**

**Fin's POV**

_This isn't the best place for anyone to live, I wonder if she didn't have the money to live in a safer place.. _As they walked up to her apartment they already noticed the trash that was on the floor in the hall, the peeling paint, and the slight smell.

"Well then if you're done admiring the quality we've got a warrant to use." Munch said while waving the warrant and going up to the door.

"Yeah, and I wonder what your yard would look like if you had one." I retorted while approaching the door. "THIS IS THE POLICE, WE HAVE A WARRANT TO SEARCH THE APARTMENT" I shouted for anyone who might be inside.

"Hey Fin its _Ms. _Ray, so unless if you're talking to spooks or robbers I don't think you need to say anything.

"ha ha, very funny." I said, man I guess I didn't really think much on that one. I opened the door and walked straight in. "So are you coming or are you scared the spooks going to get you?" mocking his conspiracy theory.

"Wow what a change" ignoring me. But it was noticeable. Everything was perfectly clean and in place. There was hardly even dust, and everything was scrubbed and without a smudge.

"Did she really live here or just looked without touching, there's not even finger prints or smudges on the tables."

CSU that came with them went straight to their jobs dusting and combing the place for any sign of evidence. After a while one of them made her way towards us. When she reached us she pointed something out to us. "Do you notice how clean it is in here?"

"Yeah, it's kind of hard to miss. She must be a neat freak." I said bluntly looking around _Still…._

"Yeah well it's impossible."

"What do you mean, it's right here." Munch stated.

"Well she's not the one who did it. We have no dust anywhere, no finger prints, and look" She pointed to the vacuumed carpet. "Whoever vacuumed this made it so that they didn't have to leave foot prints."

Another CSU officer came up to them an hour or two later. "All we found was a day planner and a calendar with her schedules on it."

"Are you sure that's it?" I asked, _how was someone this clean?_

"Don't worry" He said, and looked around. "We'll keep looking, if there's anything to find we'll find it."

"A'ight thanks. Call us if you do find something" I passively said while walking to the door with munch behind me. I then made my way outside when I noticed _Great, traffic looks terrible. _The cars were completely backed up, and something seemed to have happened a bit further up the road.

"HEY YOU CRAZY KID GET BACK HERE! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO CAUSED ALL THIS!" An officer was yelling while chasing after a terrified teenage boy around 15.

He smacked right into me and started sobbing uncontrollably. "I'm so sorry I'm so sorry, I was told you'd be here and.." He continued sobbing after that. _Wait he knew I would be here?_

"Stop, we'll take care of this" I flashed my badge. And Munch started to lead the kid to the car.

"Wait a second, I don't care how much he cries look at what he's caused! He ran out into the street right when a truck was driving by! I'm not letting him off that easy." The officer said getting red in the face.

"Knock it off we're investigating something more pressing right now." Munch was saying getting rather annoyed at the hot headed cop.

"Wait…. the man… he was...he was a cop… he told me… to give you something…" The boy managed to say before sobbing again he handed me a small envelope. _He's around 15, why is he crying like this. What could have happened that would do this. And; If the guy's a cop; how the heck… will we find him… before he finds someone else…_

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TF: **cool a cliff hanger-sort-thing. 1st and 2nd up in a few hours. I'm going to be working on getting more up, and getting the chapters longer. Once again, tell me how I screwed up and stay tuned. I'm trying to get to the really interesting parts I just have to give you a bit of mystery before that. 


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